Welcome Home
by beaglelover719
Summary: Emily runs into a familiar face while shopping at a local pet store. AU Emily/Derek pairing. One-shot.


Disclaimer – Not Mine

A/N – I wrote this a long time ago, probably about the end of S8. At the time I kept thinking multi chapter but it just never jelled. I think this might be the only Demily story I've ever done w/o it being heavily saturated with Jotch! And my Beta who kept begging me to do a Demily only story isn't even reading ff any longer. Oh well. I still miss Emily – who knows, now with Blake off the canvas they'll bring her back? A girl can hope.

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Emily Prentiss sighed as she headed into the local Petsmart. It had been a long day. Every day seemed long since she'd made the decision to move back to the DC area. She didn't exactly regret her decision, but she felt that she was on the brink of floundering.

Life in London had been rewarding, she had been doing exciting work, she had dated a couple of very nice men, and she lived a fairly stimulating life. Another long sigh escaped her lips. She was back in the states and suddenly her Friday nights consisted of picking up cat food.

"Princess."

Emily heard the word and bit back a groan. God she hated when people gave their pets stupid names. Couldn't they be more original? She expected something white and fluffy with a pink bow to come into her line of vision momentarily.

"Emily. Emily Prentiss?"

She was just reaching for a bag of kibble when her name registered, someone was calling her. Suddenly everything clicked. Princess! It wasn't someone's pet's name. She flung around and watched as Derek Morgan strode her way.

"Look at you!" She laughed. The man carried himself like he was walking on a runway. All swagger. There was nothing about Derek Morgan that didn't shout – lookie here!

He was grinning as he slowed his approach. "Well damn girl, look at you!" He grabbed her in a tight hug. "Where the hell have you been? You've been back at least three months and I have to run into you picking up cat food?"

"You're going to blame me? Your schedule sucks just as bad as mine does." She argued, kissing him lightly on the mouth. She smiled as Derek stood studying her closely.

"You look good." He finally stated. "It looks like London agreed with you."

She nodded. "It was the right choice at the time." It certainly hadn't been an easy one. She had missed her BAU family immensely.

It was his turn to nod. "I know. I have to tell you though it didn't make it any easier on the rest of us. We still miss you."

Now standing in front of him, she took the opportunity to study him up close, like he had her. She could see the tired lines bracketing his eyes, she could tell that he'd lost weight and while she knew that he sincerely was happy to see her, there was a light missing from his eyes.

Emily hadn't lost contact with Penelope or JJ so she was well aware that the BAU team had a tough year. Reid had connected with a woman on line, fell in love with her, and had to watch her die in front of him. Hotch's brother had been framed for murder and he discovered the woman he had been having a long distance relationship with wasn't exactly a faithful sort. Rossi had to say goodbye to yet another one of the women in his life when the UNSUB that had been toying with them for several months abducted her replacement, Alex Blake, and Erin Strauss. Blake, in time, would recover. The same could not be said for Erin Strauss. JJ suffered a miscarriage that resulted in the breakdown of her marriage. Derek had to revisit the pain of his abuse at the hands of a man he had considered his mentor. Only Pen was left physically unscathed but still affected by their team members' grief.

"Have you eaten?" She asked abruptly, not ready to part from him.

"I…" Emily could tell the question took him by surprise. "Uh, no, I haven't." He held up a finger. "Give me a minute." He lifted his phone from the holder on his hip and dialed a number. She shamefully listened in as he very obviously broke a previous engagement before turning back to her. "What'd you have in mind?"

Emily bit her lip. Friday night in the Nations' Capitol, everything was probably already packed. "Would you hate stopping by Wegmans and getting some steaks to cook at home?"

The flash of his teeth told her it wouldn't be a problem. "I was just thinking the same thing." He gave her what they jokingly referred to as his smolder. "Your place or mine?"

The suggestive tone had her laughing. "How many times a day do you utilize that tired line?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He told her as he flung an arm companionably across her shoulders. "Damn girl, I have missed you."

They paid for their respective purchases and loaded them into their vehicles before moving to the grocery store. As they shopped Emily filled him in on what she was doing for Interpol in DC and why she ultimately decided to move back.

"My mom is fine, I know that, but, the next time she has a massive heart attack I don't want to be on a plane wondering if I'm going to make it there in time." She tossed a package of mushrooms in their cart.

"But she's okay?" Derek asked. "Fully recovered?"

"It's going to take more than a couple of blocked arteries to sideline Ambassador Prentiss." Emily cracked.

Derek grinned. "You come from a long line of ball busters." He mumbled, as he attempted to slide a Boston crème pie into the cart unnoticed.

"You'd do well to remember that." She steered the cart to the refrigerated wine section. "Wine or beer?"

"I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow." They were officially on stand down for a week.

Emily nodded. "Right. Both it is." She picked up a six pack of his favorite beer before moving over to the wine section.

Derek laughed as she put half a dozen bottles in the cart. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"I don't plan on drinking all of this tonight." She scoffed. "I don't have any at home and I like to have a bottle on hand. You know, you pay less when you buy it in bulk." She informed him thoughtfully.

"Hey, whatever you need to tell yourself." He teased as they made their way to the checkout. "You can cook, right?"

Emily raised a finely sculpted brow. "Yes, I can cook." She grumbled as she placed the groceries on the conveyor belt. "Put that away." She growled, as he reached for his wallet.

Morgan shrugged his shoulders. "If you're cooking the least I can do is pay." He offered fairly.

Emily looked at the basket filled halfway with items she'd placed in there. "Derek, these are my groceries. Tell you what, you can return the favor another time. Next time is on you."

"You want me to cook for you?" He wagged his brows at her playfully.

"Maybe you can order take out." She suggested with a laugh.

"Hey, I can cook." He argued.

She nodded as she swiped her debit card. "Sure, of course you can."

Much later as they sat with a pie between them and two forks she realized that this was the best night that she'd had in a very long while. She also realized that nothing European came close to the perfection that was Derek Morgan.

"Do you think you're going to be okay back here in DC?" Derek asked around a mouthful of pie.

Emily sighed as she picked up her wine glass. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I loved my life over there. I had a good job and I met a couple of really nice guys but I missed my friends. I can't wait to go for retail therapy with JJ and Pen. Or have a girls' night out at the bar." She shrugged. "I made a couple of friends there that I enjoyed spending time with, but nothing like my BAU girls."

"Hey, you don't have to sell me on how great JJ and Pen are, I'm already a believer." He took a pull from his beer as he sat his fork down. "JJ could use a good friend about now."

Emily's eyes grew hard as she thought of her friend and everything she had gone through. There were times when she sincerely wanted to hunt down Will LaMontagne and kick his ass. "She'll be okay. JJ is a lot stronger than people think."

"Good." He shook his head. "Now all we have to do is fix Rossi, Hotch and Reid."

Emily smiled. "Yeah? What about you Derek Morgan?"

He rewarded her with a mega-watt smile. "You're already working wonders." Then he echoed her earlier thought. "This is the best night I've had in…" He paused to consider before hitting her with a penetrating gaze. "You know, I don't know when I've had a nicer evening."

His hand closed over hers and Emily felt her heartbeat kick up. "Me either." She told him softly.

"I am going to want to do this again." His eyes were saying a lot more than he was.

She waited half a second before nodding. "I – I'd like that."

He maneuvered their hands, turning hers then holding them palm to palm before he intertwined their fingers. "I'm really glad that you're back. I missed you more than you can possibly imagine."

"Oh, I think you might be surprised." She admitted. Wouldn't he be interested to know how often she recalled dancing with him at JJ and Will's wedding and fantasized that they had ended the evening together in bed. He gave her a slow smile that she was sure broke many a female heart.

"I think I'm intrigued, Princess." He released the hold he had on his beer and maneuvered himself closer to where she sat. "Tell me, did you think of me while you were off saving the world?"

She gave a slight laugh. "Maybe. Did you think of me while you were fighting sociopaths?"

"I did." He admitted. "I often wondered what would have happened if I would have been brave enough to dare to kiss you like I wanted at JJ's wedding."

Emily felt the smile split her face and knew she had to be sporting a goofy grin but the idea that his thoughts ran parallel to her own was unbelievable. "Really?"

He nodded moving closer still. "And I often wondered what would have happened if I would have gone to London without Pen. Don't get me wrong, you know I love my Baby Girl but there are times when she cramps my style. You know what I'm saying?"

Emily snorted, "Oh, I hear you player." They both started laughing, which was exactly the response he was looking for.

He sobered as he looked at her. "I love to see you laugh."

He was suddenly much closer than she expected she thought, as he smiled down at her. "You must have that effect on me because I seem to do it a lot around you."

His hand reached out to cup her neck. "I missed you, Emily."

She unconsciously licked her lips as her eyes dropped to his mouth. "I think we've covered that."

"Have we?" He asked, drawing even closer. "Well, welcome home." The words were barely perceptible as his mouth covered hers. His lips were soft and moist as they coaxed a response from her then grew more demanding as his tongue slipped into her mouth and tangled with hers.

Their breath mingled as they both struggled to recover from the surprisingly potent kiss.

"Wow." Emily sighed. "Now I can honestly say it's good to be back and mean it."

Thanks for reading!


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